This part of our workshop this afternoon hopes to review some of the approaches, techniques and strategies in teaching oral communication which covers both listening and speaking.

The following are some of the issues in teaching oral communication that will help us reflect on the different teaching techniques and strategies for our own classrooms. 1. Although, majority of our students would never acquire an “accent free” command of the language, I still believe that an ample emphasis begin in teaching pronunciation in any type of classroom experience (communicative - fluency or linguistic - accuracy) 2. In the late 70’s until the late 80’s there has been a great diversion in teaching that focuses on linguistic matters(articulation, grammar and accuracy) to more natural communicative language. Both extremes lack something. Accuracy and fluency both need emphasis in the classroom. “ Fluency is probably best achieved by allowing the stream of speech to flow, then, as some of this speech spills over beyond comprehensibility, the river banks of instruction on some details of phonology, grammar, or discourse will channel the speech on a more purposeful course.” 3. Affective Factors - Teachers need to provide a classroom atmosphere that would encourage students to talk no matter how broken and incomprehensible the spoken language is. 4. Emphasis on conversation in any form is important in the classroom. Oftentimes, our classroom is the only community they have in using the language. Seize that opportunity and make it work for the students.

Oral communication is intertwined with one’s ability to listen. Listening as in language is a very important component of oral communication. The silent period is often times the most crucial in the language development. Good listeners are good responders. Good listeners know how to negotiate meaning, give feedback, ask for clarification, maintain topic to make understanding or comprehension complete. A 4th century Chinese Proverb says it more eloquently : Not to let a word get in the way of its sentence Nor to let a sentence get in the way of its intention But to send your mind out to meet the intention as a guest: That is understanding.

Retention - students need to make decisions on what to retain for long term, short term. Feedback - responding information Interaction - engaging in conversation

3.
Issues in Teaching Oral Communication• The Place of Pronunciation• Accuracy and Fluency• Affective Factors• The Interaction Effect• The Role of Listening

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Approaches that Promote Listening• Total Physical Response (TPR) worked by James Asher (1977) which gives emphasis to comprehension where students were given ample amount of language to listen before they were encourage to respond orally.

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• The Natural Approach also recommended a significant silent period• Stephen Krashen (1982) emphasized the importance of “comprehensible input”.• Other studies also showed the importance of training students to use different cognitive strategies to process the input. These strategies may include the following: – Retention – Feedback – Interaction

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Principles for Designing Listening and Speaking Techniques (Brown, 1994)• Techniques should cover the spectrum of learner needs from language based focus on accuracy to message-based focus on interaction, meaning and fluency

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• Provide appropriate feedback and correction• Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening• Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication• Encourage the development of listening and speaking strategies

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Listening Strategies• Looking for key words• looking for nonverbal cues to meaning• predicting a speaker’s purpose by the context of the spoken discourse• associating information with one’s existing cognitive

18.
Discourse Chain Son Mothersend your son to the Tell mother you will go buy store what she needs Store Keeper Greet the store keeper. Tell her/him what you want to buy, ask how much.Tell what you have and how much Pay her and say goodbye.